018 - Galaxy 4

Broadcast:

11^th September - 2^nd October 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Vicki, Steven

Adversary:

Drahvin, Rill, Chumblies

Written by:

William Emms

Director:

Derek Martinus, Mervyn Pinfield

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Donald Tosh

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.93m (9, 9.5, 11.3, 9.9)

Summary: Two stranded spaceships are at war but urgently need to escape a doomed planet. The Doctor's arrival gives both sides hope but can he help save everyone in time?

Galaxy 4 has an interesting place in the Doctor Who virtual archive. It is the earliest story to have just one episode remaining (but of course Marco Polo is missing completely and The Reign Of Terror has two of its four missing), it is the first story of the third season (but was produced within the second season's recording block) and Story Edited by Donald Tosh (but he was also credited on The Time Meddler although little work was required because it was written by the outgoing Story Editor), it is also the last serial to be produced by Verity Lambert (but the 'Dalek Cutaway' episode Mission To The Unknown was truly her last episode, acting as a teaser episode for The Daleks' Master Plan), and its viewing figures increased with each episode rather than gently dropping off (not the first story to achieve this but the first since The Daleks). The missing first episode has nearly 6 minutes in tact thanks to the excerpt being considered for inclusion in Whose Dr. Who in 1977 (only 30 seconds were actually used but the rest of the clip was rescued by a production advisor) making it the largest remaining clip from an otherwise missing episode! It also has the dubious honour of containing the Chumblies as quite comical but sincere creatures (actually, they are robots) that are both adorable and pathetic... which sums up my general feeling for the whole adventure!

In the six weeks that Doctor Who had been off air, both the Maldives and Singapore became independent; America stepped up aggression in Vietnam with their first major ground battle and fighting flared between Pakistan and India while China announced it would reinforce its troops on the Indian border but a week later protested against Indian provocations in the area! Three natural disasters took over 300 lives - 90 by a Swiss avalanche, 76 by Hurricane "Billion Dollar Betsy" in New Orleans (the last major hurricane there until Katrina 40 years later), and the majority by a volcano in the Philippines. A further 34 lives were lost during race riots in Los Angeles, while 66 former SS personnel received life sentences at the Auschwitz trial. In the UK, cigarette advertising was banned on TV (though pipe tobacco and cigars continued until 1991), Elizabeth Lane became the first female High Court judge and Peter Watkins's drama-documentary The War Game due to be broadcast as part of BBC1's 'The Wednesday Play' was pulled following government pressure, concerned about its traumatically honest portrayal of nuclear strike aftermath - It would go on to receive a cinematic release, earning it an Academy Award in 1966 and was finally broadcast in 1985 (presumably thanks to the previous year's TV movie Threads which was essentially the same idea)

In the cinemas were two 'intelligent chimp' movies Bikini Beach and The Monkey's Uncle as well as a number of war films and westerns while future Doctor Who companion Bernard Cribbins could be seen in You Must Be Joking (along with many other British greats) and of course Peter Cushing was the Doctor himself in Dr. Who And The Daleks. The Beatles performed the world's first stadium concert at Shea Stadium, met Elvis Presley and released their second film Help! accompanied by an album and single which spend three weeks at number one. Other songs topping the charts were "I Got You Babe" (Sonny & Cher), "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (The Rolling Stones), "Make It Easy on Yourself" (The Walker Brothers) and Ken Dodd started an impressive five week run with "Tears". Meanwhile Bob Dylan shocked many fans by 'going electric' at the Newport Folk Festival.

Television also saw some classics born in the shape of "Tom & Jerry" and "Thunderbirds"... All this excitement and all Doctor Who had to offer its television viewers was the weak Galaxy 4. But let's take a closer look and understand why I say that...

015 - The Space Museum

Broadcast:

24^th April - 15^th May 1965

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Vicki

Adversary:

Moroks and Time

Written by:

Glyn Jones

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield

Music:

Stock

Script Editor:

Dennis Spooner

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

9.2m (10.5, 9.3, 8.5, 8.5)

Summary: When time seems to be misbehaving, the travellers make some shocking discoveries in a giant space museum and find themselves in the middle of another revolution as they try to change their own fate and make it out safely.

If The Crusade is a reminder of how lucky we are to have some great serials surviving in good quality when most episodes were supposed to have been destroyed, then The Space Museum is a reminder of how arbitrary the chance of survival was. It is unfair to class it as a bad serial, but it was the first to truly be made on the cheap. The Crusade that came before and especially the six part The Chase that would follow, were necessarily expensive to produce and the money had to come from somewhere. Unfortunately for Glyn Jones it was his story that would suffer that loss and he is present on the DVD commentary to defend his story with numerous pointers as to where the good bits and relevant plot points were taken out. New series writer Robert Shearman is also on hand with a more reflective defence that presents it as a knowing self parody. Personally, I see it as a cracking first episode that shows great potential with immense intrigue and mystery but is followed by an airy and underachieving triplet of episodes. I like it and it's easy to watch but there is a great sense of a missed opportunity and rushed production with loose ends that are never quite tied up.

Although revolution had been a fairly dominant part of background news for some time, as noted in previous reviews, it is perhaps ironic that during this particular revolution story there was relative calm and the news feels a little empty like the episodes of The Space Museum. Manchester United and Liverpool won the Football League First Division and FA Cup respectively, West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations and the Pennine Way was officially opened, stretching 267 miles north from the Peak District to just beyond the Scottish border. Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were starting work on their now classic "Satisfaction" in a Florida hotel room and the US Hot 100 listed 9 British acts in its top 10. The British chards were topped by Cliff Richard "The Minute You're Gone", The Beatles "Ticket to Ride" and Roger Miller "King of the Road". Cinemas were showing She co staring Peter Cushing and Bernard Cribbins, and the controversial The Party's Over which was banned within its first week (having already been delayed by three years trying to get passed the censors). Daleks were alo in the air at this time. Peter Cushing was filming the first movie and TV audiences were being teased about an imminent return of the Doctor's arch rivals to the show... but not just yet. In fact episode three was even delayed but not by the Daleks - The BBC were broadcasting the 20th anniversary of VE-Day which finished 20 minutes later than expected.

009 - Planet Of Giants

Broadcast:

31^sd October - 14^th November 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Size

Written by:

Louis Marks

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield, Douglas Camfield

Music:

Dudley Simpson

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

8.57m (8.4, 8.4, 8.9)

Summary: When you're only an inch tall, the whole world is against you but when chemicals, murder and corruption are added to the mix is there any way of making everything right?

Because Planet Of Giants was the opening story of Doctor Who's second season it gained the dubious honour of being the first three part story, something that wouldn't happen again until Delta And The Bannermen in 1987 when the show was being crippled out of existence. You could argue that An Unearthly Child was in fact comprised of a single episode story and a three episode story, since there were no story titles applied at this time, only episode titles, but the official records show it as a single four episode story because that is how it was produced. Interestingly though, that opening story was original intended to develop into an adventure featuring the main characters being reduced to a tiny size and experiencing all manner of problem in a class room... The idea was deemed impractical and was shelved in favour of the caveman story but the idea was still something that the production team were keen to use and so here it was almost a year later opening the second season instead (with some detail changes and a new story) Something else that Planet Of Giants has in common with An Unearthly Child is that it too was actually produced as a four episode story. However, it was decided that although it was a good story and would normally have been acceptable, as it was to be the season opener it needed a bit more punch or a bit less flab. Consequently episodes three and four were cut down and edited into one giving it another dubious honour - that of being the longest episode so far (and I dare say it kept that record, though I have yet to prove this). Excluding titles and credits it is already over 25 minutes rather than the average 23. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

After The Reign Of Terror, Doctor Who went off air for six weeks (although production had continued and wouldn't rest for a few more months) and a lot had happened that is worth noting... The Sun newspaper had started publication, Malta and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) obtained independence from the UK, the Warren Commission published the first official investigation into Kennedy's death, and the Shinkansen rail system (otherwise known as the Bullet Train) became the world's first high-seed railway in Japan in readiness for the Tokyo Olympic Games where Great Britain won 4 Gold, 12 Silver, and 2 Bronze (12 of the 18, including all 4 golds were in Athletics). The Soviet Union launched Voskhod 1, the first multi-person spacecraft and the first without space suits, while Martin Luther King Jr became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Similarly, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin became the first British Woman to win the prize for Chemistry (for determining structures of biochemical substances through the use of X-Rays). Parliamentary elections in the UK saw the Labour Party gain control of the country from the Conservatives after 13 years and Harold Wilson, the new Prime Minister, created the Secretary of State for Wales which would become the Welsh Office and ultimately lead to the National Assembly For Wales the next time Labour came to power in 1997 - I mention this here because the revived Doctor Who is made in Cardiff by BBC Wales. Oh and on the other side of the Atlantic, Canada had a new flag!

In music, Pete Townsend destroyed his first guitar (in the name of auto-destructive art), something that would become a regular occurrence, The Rolling Stones made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Kinks released their first album and Dr. Robert Moog demonstrates the prototype Moog synthesizer - paving the way for much over-use of synthesizer music in the 1980s (Keff McCulloch, I'm looking at you) Topping the Charts were Herman's Hermits "I'm Into Something Good", Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman" and Sandie Shaw's "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" (Orbison would return to the top during Planet Of Giants) while in the cinemas were Goldfinger, The Gorgon featuring future Doctors Peter Cushing and Patrick Troughton and The Black Torment also featuring Patrick Troughton. During the stories broadcast, the House Of Commons voted to abolish the death penalty for murder and ITV started daily broadcasts of soap opera "Crossroads" which would run until 1988, so starting a year after Doctor Who and ending two years before (it would also see its own revival in the new millennium running from 2001 to 2003, two years before Doctor Who returned)

007 - The Sensorites

Broadcast:

20^th June - 1^st August 1964

Doctor:

William Hartnell

Companions:

Ian, Barbara, Susan

Adversary:

Sensorites

Written by:

Peter R Newman

Director:

Mervyn Pinfield, Frank Cox

Music:

Norman Kay

Script Editor:

David Whitaker

Producer:

Verity Lambert

Average Viewers:

6.92m (7.9, 6.9, 7.4, 5.5, 6.9, 6.9)

Summary: Sensitive telepaths hold humans captive in their space craft while facing conspiracy and ilness on their own planet. There is good and bad on both sides of each problem and the Doctor must resolve it all before he can regain access to his TARDIS

The Sensorites has become a bit of a minor story over the intervening years as very few records remain in the archives and it simply doesn't get talked about. This is evident in the DVD extras (or relative lack thereof) and the brief career of its writer adds to that. It should not be completely overlooked however, as it contains some real quality and valuable points of canon and heritage - It is very possible that we would not have the Ood today if we didn't have the Sensorites first.

Essentially spanning July of 1964, The Sensorites came at a busy time in world history. No single major global incident, but plenty of events around the world that are worth noting. For example, American President Lyndon Johnson introduced the Civil Rights Act which abolishing racial segregation, there were six days of race riots in Harlem, and race riots in Singapore (between ethnic Chinese and Malays) while the Vietnam War was only approach its half way point. Malawi was given independence from the UK (and changed its name from Nyasaland) and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill retired from the House of Commons at the age of 89. In lighter news, the first close-up photographs of the Moon were taken by Ranger 7 - a thousand times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth, the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch was won by Jim Clark, the Warner Brothers Cartoon Division was shut down, and the Post Office Tower in London was completed - it would not begin operation until October 1965 but would go on to feature heavily in The War Machines in 1966. In music, country singer Jim Reeves died in a small plane crash, the Beatles returned home from America to an estimated crowd of 150,000 people which left 300 injured. At number one were Roy Orbison "It's Over", Animals "House Of The Rising Sun", Rolling Stones "It's All Over Now" and the Beatles's "A Hard Day's Night" began a run of three weeks at the top following the release of their film of the same name. Other films in the cinema included star studded black comedy What A Way To Go! and Seance On A Wet Afternoon which, in retrospect, has a number of elements that take an eerie turn when you think of the Moors Murders that were taking place at the time and searches that followed later (though it would be more than a year before they came to light)

Finally, before the review itself, between the broadcasts of episodes 4 and 5, on the 22nd July future companion Bonnie Langford was born, and on the 25th July straight after episode 5 viewers could see Carole Anee Ford on the Juckbox Jury panel for the third and final time! (It's also worth noting that episode 3 had been deliberately delayed to make way for an extended edition of Grandstand (hence the serial's seven week run when it only had six episodes)